Poll: In Which DE County Do You Live (Or Plan to Live)? (Wilmington: how much, houses)
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beachliz, why do you choose to live downstate if you feel such continuing emotional loyalty (I infer -- perhaps incorrectly) to Brandywine Hundred? They are such different worlds, aren't they? Both in terms of the geography/nature and the demography. If I could afford it I'd have two permanent residences - one up here and one downstate - that I'd constantly alternate between. For me, I feel I'd be bored living downstate all the time and I'd miss the immediate proximity to the transportation links of the Philadelphia airport and the Wilmington railway station. But everyone has different priorities.
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Location: Ocean View, DE
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Perhaps my "continuing emotional loyalty" is due to the fact that most of my family is still living in Brandywine Hundred and my father's family has resided there for over 300 years. Also--if you were born "above the canal" in Delaware, you will always be considered an outsider to native Sussex Countians (just ask my husband--a native Sussex Countian). It's pretty obvious I wasn't born here as well; my last name gives that away. I did not take my husband's last name.
Yes, NCC DOES have its perks over Sussex, but I will continue living here due to many reasons....some rather personal.
Yes, they are very different worlds; that can have its good points and its bad points. I miss being closer to the mountains, but then again...I have the beach here. I could go on and on comparing and contrasting, but I don't want to hijack this thread
You're not hijacking if you're discussing the counties - and you have made me curious.
Are you a DuPont? How would your surname starkly indicate to a stranger that you are above the Canal?
Not that you have to divulge your last name, but I would never assume it's so neighborly down there that they can tell you're not from the area by your surname. Maybe in Hooterville, of course, but...
I agree; I was going to say that I think we could certainly discuss the characteristics of the different counties here. I was intrigued by the idea that native Sussex people will view you as an outsider if you weren't born and raised there. I don't perceive that to be so much the case in New Castle, except for the impenetrable old money class, who I think are rather like the upper echelon of the British aristocracy: people who generally stick to their own and with whom one is very unlikely to have any encounter in public. There's a fairly sizeable Delaware aristocracy who may have a surname other than DuPont but who are related through both blood and marriage with the DuPont lineage. The few members of that aristocracy whom I've met have been charming but rather insular.
It would seem to me that insularity of native Sussex folk would be more a matter of small town mindset, though perhaps with some social class aspects amongst the upper crust of old Lewes.
In my visits to Dover I've found the Kent natives to be seemingly lacking in pretence, very friendly and open.
My inlaws who lived in Claymont from '73 to '05 then moved to Dagsboro have heard the northerner/Yankee thing since they moved down. The funny thing is both of them were raised in NorthEast, MD. At auctions and at breakfast restaurants they hear it all the time, from Laurel to Lewes. The best part is if you met my father in law you'd know he isn't a Yank.
In referencing the last names, Sussex although a large county has a small town atmoshere about it, where everyone knows everyone. My example and its true; My father in law and I were Deer hunting near lets say Laurel, a resident of said area knows some northerners hunt this area and doesn't like it one bit, this resident threatens to shoot my father in law out of the Deer stand he is currently hunting in and fires off two rounds with I'm guessing a high powered rifle ( I've been around guns my whole life so I know what a rifle sounds like) in my father in laws direction ( not to shoot him just to scare him) and then proceeds to have target practice within 25ft of his and other homes. Although the resident wasn't hunting, you can't hunt or shoot with a rifle within a residential area in Delaware, its against the law to use a rifle for hunting in Delaware as well. Long story short, police and game wardens came to the scene, the resident admitted to what he did and collaborated the story. My father inlaw was given a $50.00 fine for not having enough orange on, the resident was given a $25.00 fine for shooting his gun in a residential area.
Thats it. No lies, no embellishment, on my part. Try doing that up here and your butts in jail.
It doesn't mean everyones like that, just some, I personally like Sussex county for some of these reasons, I just know if I ever moved there that I would never be accepted as a resident.
Last edited by James420; 02-11-2011 at 11:19 AM..
Reason: fix
There's a youtube video I recently came across that some young construction guys from Sussex County did to promote their band - which seems to be an odd mix of country and rock. Anyway, I was really struck by their accents, which are much different than northern DE accents (and I'm talking about natives, not northern NJ or Long Island transplants). One of these native Sussex guys sounded extremely Southern and the others had that Southern Chesapeake Waterman accent. They were all supposedly DE natives and not MD Eastern Shore transplants. I'll look for the video when I've got more time and post a link to it. I'd like to know how typical people think it is of Sussex natives. Also, the video has a bunch of footage of small town and rural Sussex, much of which looks typically Southern in that unkempt, junky way that typifies certain communities and areas in the Deep South.
Planning retirement in a couple yrs. and have been concentrating almost exclusively in Sussex. Mainly because it is our impression that the further north you go in the state, the more concentrated (& congested) the population is (except along the shore in summer of course). Is that mostly true? That is one thing we are trying to escape. Also, want to be close to our beach place in O.C. MD.
I'd forgotten that actually they're heavy metal, although the video starts out with someone else's CW song. The band members start talking at about 1 min- 50 secs into the video. One of the guys - actually the first one speaking - doesn't have a Southern type accent, but the others do, especially one that I believe starts talking about 3 mins into the video and who says they all come from small towns in Sussex County. The tape includes footage of Millsboro, where the guys were apparently living when they made this video, as well as assorted rural Sussex County footage.
Planning retirement in a couple yrs. and have been concentrating almost exclusively in Sussex. Mainly because it is our impression that the further north you go in the state, the more concentrated (& congested) the population is (except along the shore in summer of course). Is that mostly true? That is one thing we are trying to escape. Also, want to be close to our beach place in O.C. MD.
I really don't think you could describe Kent County as crowded and congested except for the two Nascar weekends a year. Indeed less crowded and congested than the beaches of Sussex during the summer. Rt 1 is always going to be trafficky during the summer, especially at weekends and holidays. By the standards of larger cities, New Castle County isn't really crowded/congested at all!
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